The Alliance held its 2020 Council/Conference meeting on December 2. Unable to unfortunately meet in person, members instead attended this important meeting online to successfully accomplish several important tasks.
The Alliance is excited to welcome our two newest members. The Durban University of Technology from our sister-city of Durban and the National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute from our sister-city of Kyiv. Now totaling thirteen members, our Alliance continues to strengthen and expand academically and geographically.
The Alliance approved our Digital Academy and Entrepreneurship Capstone program. These programs represent the next step in our Alliance and how it can leverage the academic resources of our members in close coordination for the sustainable development of our cities. Task forces for these two projects are currently being formed to immediately move forward in making our Digital Academy and Entrepreneurship Capstone program a reality.
The Alliance also approved Professor Barney Glover, President of Western Sydney University, as our Executive Chair and host of next year’s Alliance student competition and meeting. Next year’s proposed “Triple R” theme of Reconnection, Regeneration and Responsibility is exciting and we all look forward to working with Professor Glover and our colleagues at Western Sydney University as we are hopefully able to visit the beautiful city of Sydney, Australia, next year.
The Alliance congratulates our Urban Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition finalist winners held the day before the conference. These winners included the Gold Award to Medified, two Silver Awards to Asquared and ESC, and three Bronze Awards to Yachen Culture, Guangzhou Five or Six Points and Douhuiwanjia. These teams also won the six outstanding mentor awards and AsOne won the outstanding presentation award. Together, these winning teams will enjoy 260,000 RMB in awarded prize money to invest into their projects.
With the continued support of our members, the strength of our Alliance grows each year. Together, the Alliance strives to build an ideal model of international collaboration among universities serving their communities.
